Cancer treatment 'could use red wine ingredient'

This is the main conclusion from a new study by scientists at the University of Calabria who used resveratrol, an ingredient found in red wine, to treat tumour cells. They saw that treated cells had a significant reduction in growth rate compare to untreated cells.

Sebastiano Ando, a researcher at the Italian university, said: "Resveratrol is a potential pharmacological tool to be exploited when breast cancer become resistant to the hormonal therapy."

Doctors explained that the ingredient works by blocking the effects of oestrogen on tumour cells - stopping them from growing - but warned that patients should not drink red wine as a treatment for breast cancer.

More than 12,000 people died from breast cancer in the UK in 2008, according to Cancer Research UK figures.